Clear looks at mobile-phone options

WELLINGTON - Clear Communications is believed to be negotiating with British-owned cellular operator Vodafone Airtouch to provide the mobile phone service it lacks.

Clear, owned by British Telecom, wants to offer the service by reselling Vodafone's services.

Mobile phones are a strong revenue earner for Telecom and rival Vodafone, whose combined customers hit the one million mark in October.

Clear public affairs spokesman Ross Inglis said a mobile service was important for its customers but declined to confirm that Vodafone might be the supplier.

Clear had several options, he said.

They included building its own mobile network and reselling the services of another mobile service provider.

"We continue to look at those options closely. We don't propose to detail commercial negotiations with any other organisation."

His comments mirror those of Clear's chief executive, Tim Cullinane, who in June said Clear had two options in offering a mobile service - ally with an existing provider, either Vodafone or Telecom, or roll out its own cellular network.

The latter option would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Vodafone spokesman Mark Champion said Vodafone was not in a position to discuss any commercial negotiations.

It had a resale agreement with Telstra and wanted to expand reselling.

These agreements involved Vodafone selling air time and access to its network.

Mr Champion said it was a way of growing revenue without customer acquisition costs.

- NZPA